Eurovision hopeful Molly Smitten-Downes says she felt nervous at first about being stereotyped, but insists her song for the contest is no novelty hit.
Molly is the UK act competing in this year's Eurovision Song Contest with her own song, Children Of The Universe, and said she had overcome her preconceptions and hoped other people would, too.
Asked whether she was a big Eurovision fan, she admitted: "Not really, if I'm honest. It's a bit of a tradition in the UK, isn't it, so when I was little I used to watch it, but the last few years I've not really engaged with it much. But I'm still over the moon to be doing it."
Talking about being asked to represent the UK, she continued: "To be honest I wasn't sure at first, I didn't quite know what they meant by that, if it was going to be a singer, or if it was going to be some awful song, like some tacky novelty thing. I had a bit of a preconception about what it was going to be.
"I'm less worried than I was initially. Obviously, I was thinking: 'Was this the right decision, does it mean I'm going to be stereotyped?' Maybe I will, but I kind of feel like music stands for itself and I'd like to think that the song is not cheesy and not novelty."
Molly added that she wasn't too concerned about Eurovision's notorious tactical voting between countries who are allies.
She said: "I think that the winners have been great songs, so I don't know how much the winner is necessarily politically voted for, I think the winner is the best song and I'd like to think that will be the case this year as well.
"Whether that's my song or not I don't know, that's up to everyone else to decide, but [tactical voting] doesn't worry me, it is what it is, there's nothing you can do about it so there's no point in worrying."
Children Of The Universe is released as a single on April 28.
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